Alta is played on a diamond-shaped board. The leftmost and the rightmost squares are colored red while the topmost and the bottommost squares are colored blue. Players put special pieces called "switches" on board squares:

Object of the Game

The goal of Alta is to get a chain of connected "switches" (of any color, i.e. both your and your opponent's "switches" count) linking the opposite squares of the board marked by your color.

You win the game if you make a move achieving your goal even if the same move creates a chain of connected "switches" linking your opponent's squares.

If you make a move that achieves the goal of your opponent without achieving your own goal then you lose the game.

Play

The game begins with an empty board.

Players move alternately, starting with the player controlling the red "switches".

Each turn a player can do one of the following:

Put a new "switch" (in any of the two possible directions) on any empty square on the board except for the forbidden squares.Forbidden squares are the ones, which are adjacent to the squares marked by the opponent's color: A4-A5-A6-I4-I5-I6 for the Blue player and D1-E1-F1-D6-E9-F9 for the Red player.